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The only reviews I had of this movie before actually seeing it were my friends telling me that it was weird. That was the long and short of it, most of them didn't even tell me whether they liked it or not just that it was weird. Actually they were right, it is weird but I like weird and and it is definitely a good thing here. It is a movie ab out a show which is put on to tell the story of the universe but that is not really what it is about. It is a tale of good versus evil and about the flaws of humans and the goodness too and it manages that without being too cheesy which is a feat in itself.
Most people are going to go to see this movie because it was the last thing Heath ledger did and I suppose that is a good a reason as any but another one is that this is Terry Gilliam's return to form. It is a visually stunning movie . A lot of it is in cg which can often be to a movie detriment but that is not the case with this. The images are absolutely beautiful and transform the world of the movie by bringing you through the stark contrast between our world and the world of our imagination. That is where it gets strange but you don't really care because plot takes second place to what you are physically seeing on screen which pushes through the mundane to something much more special.
I cannot talk enough about that element of the movie because that is what makes it. There does exist a good plot and a compelling story line but even if these things did not hold up I will still say go and see it. As for the most talked about element of the movie, the Ledger replacements, I think it worked out very well. In fact i don't really know how it would have worked out without them. I mean it could have physically happened the same way but it wouldn't have been half as interesting. As a Johnny Depp fan I was slightly disappointed that he was only in the movie for about three minutes and basically says nothing but I have to say it was the most flawless transition. Depp has a very similar facial structure to Ledger so you almost don't notice when it changes and in fact I think they use Depp for a short scene that is supposed to be Ledger but that is just something I noticed I have nothing to back that up.
It is Colin Farrel who has the best part really(outside of the main cast) the most interesting anyway. I can't really say much about it without giving it away but he is the one who you will remember afterward.
Great movie go see it.
Adventureland is the story of James Brennan's (Jesse Eisenberg) summer of 87'. He is about to start grad. school in New York city but first he is going to head on the trip of a lifetime to Europe to see the sights. Then his dad loses his job. When that happens that money that was supposed to pay for the trip and accommodation when he got to NYC dries up and he is forced to get a job. The only place in town that will take him his the theme park Adventureland. That is when the summer begins.
If I am truly onset I only went to see Adventureland because there was nothing else on last night. I am glad I did though. It is not exactly that I didn't think it would be good, it was just that I thought it wouldn't be good enough for me to go to see in the cinema. It was on my 'get it out when it reaches DVD' list. This year that is a long list. I love going to the cinema but the fare has not been wonderful. I am looking forward to the beginning of the winter season but with trepidation.
Anyway about the movie. It is a slow moving film about one of those crappy summer jobs that everybody has had, for some people it last a lot longer than a summer. It is that job that you have to do because you are in college and you need to make some money and it has to fit into your schedule. In James' case though it is a job where he can spend most of his time sitting around and reading. His whole attitude to the job is something I could connect with. I remember that jobs very well and that attitude. It is actually a really funny movie. This is the sort of thing that brings me back to comedies when romcoms have pushed me away. The comedy is subtle and human. There are darker moments too which places the movie in a real life situation so that the part that are over the top can be funny without taking your mind of the action.
The cast in this movie are great I have heard Jesse Eisenberg being called the cheap Michael Cera which I think is a little unfair to his own acting ability. The character here is fairly similar to Cera's Evan in Superbad but it is just a 'nervous guy' style I think. It works for them both anyway. Kirsten Stuart also, who plays Emily the love interest, proved much better than I thought she was going to be. Still not the happy go lucky character but different enough from Bella in Twilight that it shows she has range.
Adventureland has moved lists. It is now on the liast of movies I will but when it comes out on DVD.
September 30th 2009 10:49
Away we go is a movie about a couple, Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), who decide to find a new place to settle after their home is disturbed by the moving away of the soon to be grandparents of their daughter. Burts parents are moving 3000 miles away from them and since that was the reason they had moved into the neighbourhood they decide it is time to move on. This journey takes them on a long trip around the people they know finding different balances in life and eventually discovering the ones that suit them best.
It is a simple movie about two peoples lives and their intersection with rthe rest of the world. It is a simple story with no real excitment or major events it is just about life as it happens. It is a very funny movie though and not in an obvious way. There are no jokes as such just occurances which are funny because you can very easily imagine them happening. Most of the comedy in fact comes from facial expressions and knowing looks and it is not just something small that makes you think in your head, oh that was funny, it is laugh out loud that has you spilling your popcorn all over the floor. (I would like to take this opertunity to apologise to the cleaning staff at my local cinema) Ok I lied it is not all totally natural, a litlle of it is a bit out there. For example the hippy cousins with the family bed. Still none of it is unimaginable, every action is something that you can picture happening and the reality makes it funny.
The characters in this movie are sparkling. They are so alive that you will think you know them from the first moment you meet them. They are meant to be something a little different because that is the way people are, they are not all the same. Allison Janney I love as an actor anyway but in this she is great. You couldn't spend five minutes in a room with her character and but you can see how much Burt and Verona like her. What I like most about Lily(Janney) is the saddness that comes through in her bubbly and loud character. You feel for her even though she doesn't acknowledge the upset herself.
I really loved this movie, I can see why some people won't because of lack or excitement but it has everything that a good movie should. It is engaging and a pleasure to sit through.
Julie & Julia is a movie about two women a generation apart who both find meaning I their love of cooking and both have a great desire to tell the world about it. It is a movie as much about finding a direction as it is about cooking, the two things are intertwined in the lives if these two ladies and it brings purpose to their lives. The movie flicks back and forth between the beginning of Julia Child's career as a cook and Julies mission to cook every recipe for Julia's book in a year. 365 days 528 recipes
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One thing and one thing alone put me off going to see Funny People and that one thing is my intense hatred for Adam Sandler. OK honestly I don't know the guy so it is not fair to say that he may not have some wonderful redeeming features that he is somehow keeping out of his acting but as an actor I can't stand him, and before you ask no I didn't even like The Wedding Singer
I don't like his brand of comedy and to be honest I think he takes the movie down with him. Having said that I went to see Funny People anyway. Some of my friends were going and it was better than having to see Final destination we can come up with any more ideas so we are making it 3D
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Diving Bell was one of those movies that I have been aware of for a long time and in that time I knew people kept telling me to watch it and I was taking this good advice and doing nothing with it. To be honest I didn't really know anything about it apart from the fact that it was in French. I am not the kind of person who won't watch a movie because it is in a foreign language and in fact some of my favourite movies are not in English but because people were telling me to watch it coupled with the fact that it was in French I thought it was going to be one of those arty movies that you pretend to like to the people who recommended them to you in fear of seeming stupid if you don't but really didn't get and when it comes down to it just didn't enjoy.
However, when I was finally placed in front of a TV to watch Diving Bell something completely different was going through my head. You see that was the moment that I found out that the movie was about locked in Syndrome. As the movie started I began to feel breathless as if by just watching a movie about this rare illness would allow it to take me over, The opening of the movie gives us a view from inside the eyes of a man who cannot move and does not yet know it. A fear went through me that I had never experience before. The thought of being locked inside you own head with no way of communicating to the outside world is the most terrifying thing I can think of
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The sum total of my knowledge of Gi Joe before I went to see this movie could be put down in very few words. I knew that it was a tv show made to sell toys like transformers, I knew that there was a cartoon movie where the bad-guys had a very funny theme tune and that there was some guy called Joe in it. The last piece of information turned out not to be true it actually stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity and they are an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The cast is made of of actors who you will spend ages on IMDB looking up afterwards to find out where you have seen them before. ( I will give you one Heavy Duty is Mr Echo from lost, I know he looks so different) They are a good cast for the movie because there is so little else to hold it up that the time you waste imdbing in your head will pass the time. It is not that any of them are bad mind you just that they don't have a lot to work with and there is more cheese pouring out of every crack then in a freshly made panini.
Everyone in the movie seemed to have a history with someone else. The only people who weren't connected, it seems, were the faceless goons manufactured to feel no pain but who still grunted and scremed when fighting. The action is littered with flash backs that send the characters off into the past of their mind and always require them to be brought back to the present by a helpful person standing near them. The flash backs are short enough and to the point but they only really serve to reinforce things that have come up in the movie in case you don't get what they are subtly hinting at.
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Pelham 123 is a fast paced exciting movie. I was told before I went in to leave my brain at the door and that is what I did. It was necessary to and not because there were a lot of plot holes or that anything was particularly bad it was just that it was a straight up action movie and to enjoy the movie you just can't think about it that much. Would you expect any less from the director who brought us top gun.
The Movie starts with a montage of people moving and trains running all over new york city. this sets the scene for the rest of the movie where nothing will be still for a moment. The action starts straight away with Ryder(John Travolta) taking the train along with his lackeys who are of course not American and are generally disgruntled. They take the train sort out the hostages to where they should be and respond to the calls of our man in the control centre( the fabulous Denzel Washington). I loves these characters they are not many layered and you don't even really like them that much but they are very well played by their respective actors they suit the movie very well. Travolta's character is properly the bad guy, he is unrelenting but for some reason he has a death wish that you never really find out the reason for even as you get his back story as the movie goes on. It is not that significant but it takes away from the impact of the 'I don't care if you kill me' statements if you don't know where they are coming from
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This the sixth installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise started just like the other five for me, expressly with me being dragged to the cinema by three more interested people. You might think from that confession that I am not a Harry Potter fan but that isn't really it either. I think more than a real desire not to see the film what I have is a fear that it won't be as good as it could be. I have read all the book, like most people have and before I go in and sit down to my movie I know there is going to be something left out that I really wish that they had left in. Like any book to movie translation both are not going to be the same thing and that really has to be accepted before you walk in and I have said that before but I am terrible at it, I want the images that I had in my head to be put up on the screen right in front of me even though it took me twelve hours to imagine them and the film only has two and a half. It is a very unreasonable expectation but it taints the whole experience for me because its that the movie is not going to be that no matter what. It is not like a movie you expect to be bad that might be good it is a movie that no matter how good it is won't be good enough.
OK I think I am overselling that point a little bit there and in fact I am probably over selling Harry Potter as a whole I mean it really isn't that goo. The main plot failings of the movies so far have been the books failing and not the sole responsibility of the movie producers. You don't get to be globally acclaimed for your writing without being a bit crap and Dan Brown is testament to that. Harry Potter has something though, it has mad children want to read and you have to respect it for that, in this age of 10,000 distractions that are so much less effort than reading children are sitting down with books open on their laps and there is nothing bad I can say about that. Even though the thoughts in Harry Potter are not all new( the worst witch, LOtr have got in their first besides a few others) they are compelling and you want to find out what happens next and that is why they work as movies but it is more than that even because there are so many little things that you just want to see some to life and thanks to the wonder of cg it happens for you.
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Comment by Rachael Murphy
on Thursday still.
Film Gorilla
Some Poetry by me.